In this paper, we simulate the effects of an increase in the levels of public spending in health care and social assistance in the Chinese economy, and examine its global effects, i.e., the effects on the main macroeconomic variables of seven regions of the world economy, namely, China, Japan,...

We portray determinants of social expenditure in OECD countries. Many theories have been proposed to describe why social expenditure has increased in industrialized countries. Determinants include globalization, political-?institutional variables such as government ideology and electoral...

Canada spends more than Italy on health per capita and as a share of GDP and has a higher per capita GDP. Yet, life expectancy and infant mortality in Italy are better and have improved more over time. The implication is that the Italian health care system provides better value for money. We...

Der Beitrag diskutiert die makroökonomischen Effekte von Änderungen bei Sozialausgaben und Einnahmen der Sozialversicherung auf das Bruttoinlandsprodukt, Konsum, Investitionen, Beschäftigung und weitere Größen. Er fasst unsere Ergebnisse aus einer umfangreicheren Studie (Gechert et al....

This paper investigates the link between globalization, operationalized as openness to trade, and the welfare state, defined as social spending, in a panel of 21 countries from 1920 to 2000. It argues for a clear definition of globalization with clearly defined and testable data, and that social...